Attack on Titan the game (NOT A CONSOLE GAME)

[Yosuke-kun]

Play it here for free

 

 

Okay, first of all, like the title said, this isn't a console game, nor is it a download game. So I THINK I'm within the rules here. If not, I have no objections to this being locked. 

 

The game itself is just a free to play and very simply made computer game that has hours of fun to offer (well for me it did). 

If you're like me, and don't mind a game with crappy graphics that'll challenge you in several ways, and keep you playing till you can beat your high score, then this is right up your alley. If you don't like games like that, then I'm sad to say that this is not for you.

 

[spoiler=Now for the review portion]

 

When I first heard of the game from a video that was randomly suggested to me on YouTube, I admit I was somewhat skeptical and overall unimpressed. Having watched the anime since shortly after it's release, I was a little disappointed to see that it was just one of those indie games that some college otaku's made on a whim, and was more or less just not interested. But after seeing how hard the guy was struggling to beat just one or two titans, that changed, and my interest was piqued. So, I decided to try it out that same night, and before I knew it, the sun had risen.

 

Yes, the game had an easily addictive quality to it that made it similar to a potato chip, in that I couldn't just play one round. Even later when I would talk to my brother and say something like "I'm gonna play a round of Attack on Titan, then go to sleep." I would find myself awake hours later on round 78 trying to take down a particularly tricky Titan that would ultimately kill me in the end, causing me to restart the game try again for another two hours or so. That more than anything stood out to me.

 

Now I touched on the fact that it was addictive, now I should probably start talking about the actual gameplay. Unlike some people may have been thinking and unlike what I expected, there's no engaging plot in the game, and leads the player to go watch the anime if they want to know anything about the backround of the game (chances are if you're playing it, you watch the anime anyways). Yes, as I said, the game is a very simple indie game, that sets itself apart by not making some lame find pages in a forest or get bikini rocket girl to the white house theme (no seriously, there's an indie game about a chick in a bikini flying towards the white house on a rocket. It's ridiculous.). The game is focused around 3 different goals. Chief among these, is to not get killed by the Titans, which is a lot easier said than done as I soon found out. After that, there's the goal of actually killing all the Titans on the level. That one's kind of obvious, but since the only weak spot on the Titans is a large red mark on the back of their neck (as in the anime the back of the neck is the weakness) this too can prove challenging. Especially when there're multiple Titans around. Lastly, aside from trying not to die while killing all 32 or 15 (depending on the level) of the Titans in as short a time as possible, you're being scored on how much damage you're doing to them. In a way, it reminded me off a much more simplified DMC style system, except the devil isn't yelling out how good you're doing. I mean, the more you mess up the back of the neck the more points you're given? What part of that isn't cool?

 

Having explained the actual gameplay, let's get to the controls of the game. Given that this is an indie game, the controls are not too tricky, and anyone can learn the controls in a couple minutes just by playing around with the keys like I did, so it's not too hard to figure out. The basics involve pressing Q or E to fire a grapple hook into a wall or Titan, and swing around the area like frickin' Spiderman to get to the back of the neck and kill a Titan by clicking to cut the weak point. Easy enough, right? Wrong. See the game added in a physics engine that factors in things like inertia, momentum, acceleration, all that jazz, meaning if you hook directly onto a titans weak point, hoping you'll get strait to it and kill it, chances are you're gonna fly right past him. That aside, each of the Titans are different sizes, making some easy to kill, and some require a bit more trouble. However, each of the 3 characters have a different special move that you can use to your advantage once you learn how to. However, while this CAN help, the probability that it will is very slim, so you're typically better off just hacking away with your basic attack.

 

That's part of what makes this game so difficult. Which brings me to the next portion of the review, the difficulty portion. When I think of the difficulty of Attack on Titan, I'm reminded of Dark Souls, or it's apparently less popular predecessor Demon Souls. Not because the enemies in it get incredibly strong out of nowhere (because that doesn't actually happen in any of the games I mentioned) but because it IS challenging, but part of the reason because you can't just Leroy Jenkins your way through it like you can most modern games these days and expect to succeed. Oh, and don't expect to be an instant master after a few rounds or you figuring out the controls, because it most likely will NOT happen. Attack on Titan requires you to do something a lot of games don't ask us to do, but is always a rare gem to a certain group of challenge seekers like myself. It requires you to THINK and USE SKILL. If you want to jump into a group of Titans and come out on top, you need to have a fairly good plan, and the skills needed to execute said plan. I'd also recommend a decent back-up plan, since more often than not your original plan won't go quite how you planned it due to the physics engine being what it is, as well as a couple other reasons.

 

As for the graphics. Well. I think I made it clear that they aren't state of the art. For a few guys making it just for sh*ts and giggles, it's not too bad. Having said that, I can't in good consciousness say that it's good either, lest the people at Square doing FFXV strike me down. The graphics are a simple pixel 3D game, which looks a little bit better than your standard Minecraft. Each of the Titans facial expressions look the same, and are basically shaped like a bald overweight Bart Simpson, with a couple special Titans looking different. The characters themselves actually resemble the characters from the anime too, which is a plus for the fans, but it's still just pixel graphics, so I can't in my right mind say that it's good. However, for what it is, it's not too bad. Movement is fluid and lagless with a standard CPU, which ultimately only helps it's standing; and in a few ways, it's somewhat funny to see a fountain of what's supposed to be blood burst out from your limbs whenever a character dies. Maybe that's just me though.

 

Now we get down to the last section of the review. Did I enjoy Attack on Titan? I think it's obvious that I did, however, I do have to add that while this game is loads of fun, it can become a little repetitive at times. Of course, I loved being able to fly though the simplistic box city as Mikasa or Levi and down a Titan in a single hit. I loved the feeling I got when a plan to take out a Titan went just as or better than expected and I ended up killing not one, but three Titans in the group. I liked that I gained a new appreciation for how scary the Titans in the show can be (I thought they were a little goofy before) and will enjoy the series more because of it. However, as with all things, the more frequently you experience these feelings, the less effect they have on you. In time, I'm sure that this will change in terms of my enjoyment because of how repetitious it is, and rather than getting the excitement of a desperate perverted virgin about to lose i with his dream girl, playing it will be more like having that song come up on your iPod that you only put on as a joke, or getting up at 5 AM to catch the bus to work. For the time being though, I'm loving the sh*t out of this game and hoping to beat my high scores with every round.

 

Lastly, and this isn't a bad thing, but the game itself is an unfinished product. The creator is, at the moment, working on adding things to the game, but since the anime too is in development, there's only so much he can add. Like I said, this isn't necessarily bad. There're a lot of benefits to be had from adding onto this game (I for one am hoping for a multiplayer of some kind), but I can't give a good score to a game that's technically not finished yet.

 

After carefully calculating the scores for gameplay, controls, difficulty, graphics, and my own personal enjoyment, these are the scores I give to Attack on Titan the game:

 

[spoiler=Final Scoring]

 

Gameplay: 8 (it's nice to see an indie game that's fun, challenging, and unique, but it's repetitious and can easily bore some people)

 

Controls: 6 (The controls are easy to learn, but difficult to master giving it a well balanced, if a bit annoying feel)

 

Difficulty: 6.5 (Was harder to score this. While I like a challenge, a lot of people don't and sooo you get the idea. I should also add that I'm still not too great at this, so I may have over hyped the difficulty)

 

Graphics: 7 (it's not amazing, but for what it is, it's not bad, and the characters are easy to recognize too)

 

Enjoyment: 8 (I'm loving this game, and so far can see myself playing this for a long time. Hopefully you like it as much as I do)

 

Final Score: 7.1 (please note that I docked a point off both controls and difficulty, since as stated the game is unfinished and those two areas could drastically change as time passes)

[/spoiler]

 

Well, that concludes my review. Since the game is a free to play online indie game, I can't really say buy it, test it, rent it, or skip it, but if I had to choose, and it were on Xbox live or PSN, I'd say just download a demo and test play it then decide for yourself whether it's worth the buy. As it's not on either of those though, I say just play it. Like now. What're you still reading this for, go play the damn game!

 

[/spoiler]

 

Last thing I want to say, if you want to post your information on the game (I've been keeping track of mine) here, then please do.

 

Here's mine:

 

Highest kill streak: LV1 - 18 LV2 - 14

Highest Score: 1815

Longest Playthrough: 634 seconds

Fave Character: Mikasa

 

Well, hope you enjoy the review as well the game ^^ (and hopefully I didn't break any rules here x.x)

[Night]

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